I’ve been reviewing book proposals for well over a decade, and I’ve noticed that for the most part proposals fall into one of two categories. Either publishers fight each other to publish your book, or they don’t give it much attention at all.
That’s an oversimplification, but not as much as you might think. For the vast majority of new book proposals, it’s either a feeding frenzy or crickets.
Secret Sauce
The natural question is: how does a writer get in the feeding frenzy category? How do you get publishers to beg for your book?
Rarely does it happen solely on the strength of an author’s writing. It happens more often for books that have compelling concepts. But it happens frequently because of an author’s platform.
Do we sometimes receive proposals from writers with huge platforms and turn them down because the concept is lousy or because the writing is atrocious. Yes, we do. But that is rare, and here’s why. If an author has done the work of building a platform, typically they’ve also done the work of developing a strong concept, and they’ve done at least enough work in the writing department to submit a decent sample.
Craft and Platform
Not long ago I was at a conference where a successful author encouraged the audience to stop worrying about platform and instead focus on craft. I see where this author is coming from, and it’s true that if you hone your craft as much as this author has, you’ll naturally attract an audience.
But my question is, why not work on both? Why not hone your craft and make it easy for people to follow you? Why not develop your writing talent as you gather the email addresses of people who like your content? Why not write, write, write but also build, build, build?
That’s my admonition. Focus on craft, absolutely. Do the work. But be smart about it by building your platform at the same time.
How to Build a Platform
The number one way to build a platform is to build a list of email subscribers. And the number one person to listen to on this topic is Bryan Harris. Not only has he built a massive list himself, he’s helped uber successful writers like Jeff Goins and Michael Hyatt grow theirs.
When it comes to list-building, Bryan Harris is the guy.
Bryan just opened the doors on a course he created called Get 10,000 Subscribers. I’m taking the course myself right now (I’m a platform builder too!), and it’s quite simply the best content available on building an email list.
Bryan will help you shave months, even years, off the process of building a large email following. I’ve already begun implementing his strategies, and it’s been a game changer.
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I don’t know if this will help some people think differently about the craft vs. platform thing, but I think the key is realizing that you need to EXECUTE your craft in a specific way to build a platform. I can write a blog post using my “craft” in about a thousand different ways. But when I understand which of those ways will make people want to share what I write and become loyal followers, I’ve latched onto “platform building” at the same time. I see it as a merging of the blogging craft and writing craft…and they definitely aren’t one and the same!
I concur!
Well said, Natasha. I’d love to know what you see as the main elements of blogging in a way that makes people want to share what you write and become loyal followers?